Mergers and Acquisitions

The forces of globalization and technological change have created a highly competitive and dynamic business world where mergers and acquisitions are increasingly used to seek competitive advantage and maximize value for shareholders.

Engaging in M&A activity is not a low-risk endeavor, so it is imperative that executives know how to navigate this landscape. At Chicago Booth, you will learn not only from M&A successes but also from M&A failures to better evaluate risk and put frameworks and tools to practice in a risk-free environment.

During this program, you will:

• Develop a strategic plan for M&A activity.
• Analyze strategic alternatives to M&A.
• Understand the M&A due diligence process and develop your due diligence skills.
• Understand business valuation techniques.
• Implement a strategy for integration and restructuring.
• Structure the deal to minimize tax consequences.
• Learn how to best protect shareholder value during M&A.
• Understand the use of M&A by large public corporations, privately held middle-market firms, and private equity firms.
• Learn a playbook of M&A best practices.

This program is designed for senior and upper-middle level executives who are now or will be involved in M&A activity. CFOs, CEOs, and general counsel considering or currently involved in M&A activity will find this program immensely valuable.

Titles include: C-suite, general manager, vice president, director of business development, director of finance, strategic planner, business unit manager, general counsel, and analyst.

Pre-Work to Lay the Foundation
To ensure you are ready to tackle the program’s financial concepts and make the most of your time in the classroom, we offer access to optional online content via a proprietary platform.

Led by professor Haresh Sapra, this self-paced tool helps participants build their financial acumen and refresh important concepts prior to the program. Each module features faculty video lectures, exercises, cases, and self tests, allowing participants to tailor their learning and focus their time on modules and topics most important to them. Expect 7-10 hours of preparation to ensure you are ready to tackle the program’s financial concepts. 

Pre-work includes critical topics such as...

• Accounting Principles
• Profit and Loss Statements
• Asset Analysis
• Liability Analysis
• Financial Statements
• An Introduction to Valuation

Strategy Formulation

• Create competitive advantage through acquisition, merger, divestiture, or alliance
• Determine attractiveness and fit of a candidate
• Analyze the alternatives to M&A such as strategic alliances or joint ventures

Investment Decisions and Financing

• Understand valuation methods in evaluating M&A prospects
• Consider capital structure and financing choices and understand/compute pro forma metrics
• Review an LBO transaction and financing structure
• Understand market reaction to transactions

Tax Implications

• Understand tax implications of various tax structures for both the buyer and seller
• Structure transactions to maximize the seller's after-tax wealth and to minimize the buyer’s after-tax cost
• Become familiar with various valuation implications of tax planning for mergers, acquisitions and divestitures

M&A Strategy and Target Identification, Deal Phase, and Due Diligence

• Develop an end-to-end process view of corporate development and M&A
• Obtain tools to identify and prioritize acquisition targets
• Test and validate a potential deal thesis
• Learn due diligence activities necessary to test an investment thesis
• Develop synergy estimates
• Identify key risk issues to be investigated in due diligence
• Develop a due diligence plan

Postdeal Integration

• Develop a strategy for successful integration
• Manage post-merger integration with focus on shareholder value
• Understand the decisions and processes that impact the new organization's strategy, structure, and culture

I entered this program having been involved in deals where success seemed to happen by chance. Booth M&A provided me with the strategies and tools to replicate success in my important work.

- Patrick Jones, SVP of Leadership & Equity, The Mind Trust

The program's structure covers strategy, tax, valuation, and process, with real-life experience from professors. It provides comprehensive frameworks for the deal process and integration strategy.

- Manuel Sanchez, Strategic Planning Manager, FEMSA

Invest in your future by spending a full week with like-minded students from around the globe, learning how to do deals right!

Attending the M&A program has truly been an exceptional learning journey for me. The faculty comprises top-tier professors who bring rich industry experience to the table. The lectures are packed with valuable insights that even after completing the course, I'll have ample training and resources to continue my learning journey for months to come.

- Guzman Ordoyo Garcia, Senior Project Manager, Acciona Energy USA Global LLC

The M&A program provides a foundation for executives who are new to M&A and a refresher for those with experience. Being able to engage on the theoretical and strategic nature all the way through to the practical execution and integration was extremely helpful.

- Troy Shay, President & Chief Commercial Officer, Weber Stephen Products LLC

I like the course very much because it is well organized: great structure and content, excellent faculties who have great real-world experiences and are good at teaching, and Chicago Booth staff are supportive and helpful every day. I not only learned about the fundamentals in the quantitative parts but also pragmatic strategic framework that I can bring back to my work everyday.

- Haipeng Chen, Sr. Director, Corporate Development and Business Knowledge, Chiesi USA, Inc.

This is a great program for anyone working with M&A. Very well-rounded course materials and lectures. Very practical concepts and tools that can be put to use in my daily work. Great balance of classroom time and small group break-away time to help practice the concepts.

- Mike Huray, CFO, Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota

Well designed program packed with quality content and delivered efficiently. Inspiring faculty.”

- Suresh Vaidhyanathan, Group Chief Financial Officer, GA Group

The learning and networking experienced during the M&A Program at Chicago Booth has been invaluable for my career. The Chicago Booth program provides a broad range of cases and tools that I have been using on a daily basis.

- Gabriel Gosalvez T, Senior Manager, Deloitte LLP

The tenor and pace of the class, the very relevant and up-to-date materials, and most importantly the very diverse global make-up of the participants and teachers made my entire experience at Booth an exceptional week. I have recommended multiple courses to my colleagues and associates and plan to attend more courses relevant to my job in the future. I have stayed in contact with several of my classmates and intend to continue to do so in the future.

- Tom Heiser, Vice President & General Manager, Hitachi High Technologies America, Systems Products Division & New Business Development

The Chicago Booth M&A program was excellent and provided many insights which I now apply in my day-to-day work. The faculty was highly rich in industry experience and used case studies to elaborate principles. I believe this M&A program is one of the most practical and professional available for senior leaders to improve their competencies around M&A. I do not hesitate to recommend this program to any participant who wants to improve his/her knowledge of M&A.

- Sanjeewa Samaranayake, CFO, Group Finance, Hemas Holdings Plc

The Chicago Booth M&A program is ideal for practitioners involved in any facet of a transaction. I benefited from the quantitative evaluation of a deal, its tax implications, and approaches to ensuring a successful integration.

- Girish Rishi, Executive Vice President, Tyco

The program invigorated me. Quality of the professors was fantastic with real world experience that I valued. I really feel the content will help me tremendously in my day-to-day.

- David Bethoney, Senior Finance Director, Experian

The class afforded me the opportunity to see how the financial team views M&A as well as get more comfortable with their terminology. I appreciate the tools I’ve received to focus and hone my financial and business teams in our M&A activities.

- Adelle Mize, VP, Associate General Counsel, Freeman

It's been my experience that most of us involved in deal making tend toward the bias that purchase price and precise valuation outweigh all other components of the deal. This class has changed my thinking to be more balanced and given me tools to prove that strategy and integration are equally or more important than valuation in creating value.

- Tyler Jones, Business Development Manager, Performance Technologies, LLC

Great use of strategy and self-reflection, which drive M&A decisions, coupled with which tools can advantage you once you have made the decision to proceed.

- Chris Chrisafides, Sr. Commercial Director, The Dow Chemical Company

I was hesitant to return to academia, even for a week, but I found the course to be interesting, relevant, and highly collaborative. I would recommend it to colleagues.

- Valerie Matena, Senior Analyst, M&A, The Babcock & Wilcox Company

Such a great program that covers the essentials of strategy, valuation, tax, and integration. An absolute must for successful M&A execution.

- Rob Vassel, Director of Business Development, The Clorox Company

The course 110% met my expectations. It was very well done with the big picture always in mind. It was well worth the financial and time investment.

- Christopher Alsip, Director of Strategic Planning, Tyson Foods, Inc.

Overall I am extremely satisfied and enthusiastic about the experience. The quality of the faculty (and overall program management) is extremely high. I hope to be back soon for other programs. This course gave me a consolidated view of the M&A process and put all the pieces of the puzzle together in a very practical and pragmatic way. This week exceeded my expectations. Thank you.

- Denis Jaquenoud, Vice President of Operations, Richemont North America